Week 3: Green Light*
Hello readers,
Well, it looks like my classmates and I have successfully completed another week of AP Research. Frankly, I wasn't sure I'd make it this far.
This time last week, I had an impressive stockpile of sources. I had even skimmed their abstracts! I was like a 5'2" brunette dragon sitting on a hoard of precious metals--except my precious metals were academic articles, and I was definitely supposed to do more than just sit on them.
Luckily, thanks to Mrs. Haag's endless generosity, I had the opportunity to spend some class time reading through sources, both when acting as TA during her morning AP Seminar class and then again during our AP Research period. I think I just needed that time to get the ball rolling, because the idea seemed so overwhelming at first. Turns out, reading various sources about a topic that I personally find both interesting and important is not that difficult a task.
In fact, because I was approaching my readings with genuine curiosity--which is, in my opinion, a benefit to AP Research not found in many other high school classes--even entering information into my spreadsheet was enjoyable and fulfilling. Not only that, but the few sources I've read so far have already opened up an interesting new path for my project.
Before I embarked on my search for sources, Mrs. Haag had advised my class to find subtopics into which we could divide our broader research topics. The purpose of these subtopics was simple--keep us focused and organized, and ensure that we cover all necessary ground relating to the fields encompassed by our respective projects. Mine, so far, are as follows: sexual harassment, sex education, LGBT health, LGBT discrimination, LGBT students. Aaaand that brings us to the new and exciting part.
The first few sources in my list happened to be under the "sexual harassment" umbrella, specifically discussing the idea of sexual harassment (and its prevention) in the context high school students. I did cover one source about LGBT health, written by a lesbian woman who had experienced insensitivity in a doctor's visit due to her sexuality and wrote about various challenges faced by LGBT patients seeking healthcare. With this in mind, I tackled the sources about sexual harassment, both of which referenced (if not revolved around) the idea that girls are at a disproportionately higher risk of experiencing harassment than their male counterparts.
With all of this information rolling around in my head, I began to wonder--why not narrow my research down to one letter? The LGBT community is vast, and carries with it a history of shared oppression and marginalization. Beyond that, there is a shared sense of art and culture that is often unrecognized or even purposely downplayed.
Still, there are undeniable differences in the experiences of, for example, a transgender lesbian woman and a cisgender gay man. Even ignoring other potential differences, such as race, socioeconomic status, or social environment--which, by the way, is almost impossible to do--one would be hard-pressed to compare the experiences of any two members of the LGBT community and find their stories identical, even if they were to share the same letter(s).
Understandably, the idea of researching the marginalization of people with such varying identities, each of which will have its own connotation within American society, feels impossible. And so, this week's moment of realization:
Perhaps, considering that my rudimentary ideas about this project concerned women and women's oppression, and that the sources I've read about sexual harassment so far have spoken to women's issues specifically, I should narrow my scope to LGBT women, or even to lesbian women alone.
This idea may or may not pan out, but I will definitely be keeping it in the back of my mind over the next few weeks as I continue reading through academic sources and narrowing the scope of my research. Hopefully, this will lead me not only to a nuanced place in the academic conversation about LGBT health and sexual harassment among high school students, but to a topic whose specifics will relate to my own experiences and lend to a more fulfilling project on the whole.
Until next week,
Vanessa
(695)
*Good thing of the week!
**You know, after finding that gif, I realized that there are a whole lot of gifs of Elaine Benes doing highly relatable things. Considering that Seinfeld is one of my favorite shows, and Elaine is one of my favorite characters of all time, I'll do my best to include as many of those relatable gifs as I can until this blog comes to its tragic end next April. Just thought I'd give a fair warning.
Well, it looks like my classmates and I have successfully completed another week of AP Research. Frankly, I wasn't sure I'd make it this far.
This time last week, I had an impressive stockpile of sources. I had even skimmed their abstracts! I was like a 5'2" brunette dragon sitting on a hoard of precious metals--except my precious metals were academic articles, and I was definitely supposed to do more than just sit on them.
Luckily, thanks to Mrs. Haag's endless generosity, I had the opportunity to spend some class time reading through sources, both when acting as TA during her morning AP Seminar class and then again during our AP Research period. I think I just needed that time to get the ball rolling, because the idea seemed so overwhelming at first. Turns out, reading various sources about a topic that I personally find both interesting and important is not that difficult a task.
In fact, because I was approaching my readings with genuine curiosity--which is, in my opinion, a benefit to AP Research not found in many other high school classes--even entering information into my spreadsheet was enjoyable and fulfilling. Not only that, but the few sources I've read so far have already opened up an interesting new path for my project.
 | |
|
Before I embarked on my search for sources, Mrs. Haag had advised my class to find subtopics into which we could divide our broader research topics. The purpose of these subtopics was simple--keep us focused and organized, and ensure that we cover all necessary ground relating to the fields encompassed by our respective projects. Mine, so far, are as follows: sexual harassment, sex education, LGBT health, LGBT discrimination, LGBT students. Aaaand that brings us to the new and exciting part.
The first few sources in my list happened to be under the "sexual harassment" umbrella, specifically discussing the idea of sexual harassment (and its prevention) in the context high school students. I did cover one source about LGBT health, written by a lesbian woman who had experienced insensitivity in a doctor's visit due to her sexuality and wrote about various challenges faced by LGBT patients seeking healthcare. With this in mind, I tackled the sources about sexual harassment, both of which referenced (if not revolved around) the idea that girls are at a disproportionately higher risk of experiencing harassment than their male counterparts.
With all of this information rolling around in my head, I began to wonder--why not narrow my research down to one letter? The LGBT community is vast, and carries with it a history of shared oppression and marginalization. Beyond that, there is a shared sense of art and culture that is often unrecognized or even purposely downplayed.
Still, there are undeniable differences in the experiences of, for example, a transgender lesbian woman and a cisgender gay man. Even ignoring other potential differences, such as race, socioeconomic status, or social environment--which, by the way, is almost impossible to do--one would be hard-pressed to compare the experiences of any two members of the LGBT community and find their stories identical, even if they were to share the same letter(s).
Understandably, the idea of researching the marginalization of people with such varying identities, each of which will have its own connotation within American society, feels impossible. And so, this week's moment of realization:
Perhaps, considering that my rudimentary ideas about this project concerned women and women's oppression, and that the sources I've read about sexual harassment so far have spoken to women's issues specifically, I should narrow my scope to LGBT women, or even to lesbian women alone.
 |
| Seinfeld** (1989-1998) |
This idea may or may not pan out, but I will definitely be keeping it in the back of my mind over the next few weeks as I continue reading through academic sources and narrowing the scope of my research. Hopefully, this will lead me not only to a nuanced place in the academic conversation about LGBT health and sexual harassment among high school students, but to a topic whose specifics will relate to my own experiences and lend to a more fulfilling project on the whole.
Until next week,
Vanessa
(695)
*Good thing of the week!
**You know, after finding that gif, I realized that there are a whole lot of gifs of Elaine Benes doing highly relatable things. Considering that Seinfeld is one of my favorite shows, and Elaine is one of my favorite characters of all time, I'll do my best to include as many of those relatable gifs as I can until this blog comes to its tragic end next April. Just thought I'd give a fair warning.
Hey Vanessa,
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad to hear that the source collection/reading process is going great for you!
I do agree that narrowing down to one letter of LGBT would be helpful, since the experiences of each group will probably vary greatly since their definitions itself are completely different from one another. Narrowing down to women in some shape of form also seems like a good avenue, since the sources that you mentioned included information about women being at a higher risk of sexual harassment, indicating a good reason you could possibly use to justify your narrowing of scope.
In terms of the subtopics, I think what you have are all really strong. But something else you could possibly consider might be the "perceptions of lesbian women," because I think the perceptions of these groups may play an integral role in the discrimination of the students that you mentioned.
Your research seems to be progressing wonderfully, and I'm excited to see the new things you discover in the coming weeks now with the help of your subtopics! (177)
Vanessa -- I agree with your comment this morning: you are definitely getting the hang of this whole blogging thing! I love hearing your reflections on the process and how you've progressed. However, I would've liked a little more development in terms of your subtopics. Right now, you've sort of listed them out, without providing any information about what they mean, why they're important, and how they relate to each other. This needs to be much further fleshed out, as it'll give you direction and purpose as you continue your search and analysis of sources.
ReplyDeleteI’m happy to see that your research experience has been so fulfilling and exciting for you! For starters, I think that narrowing your topic down to one letter would be a necessary step toward keeping your project focused while still be nuanced. Of course, if you do choose lesbian women as your refined topic, you will probably want to justify that decision. Nevertheless, I think you made a good choice in deciding to focus on one area of LGBT. As for your subtopics, I think that you’ve identified the major issues that revolve around your main topic. However, I’m slightly confused about how they are going to come together in a logical order. Figuring that out would definitely make things easier when you ultimately write the literature review for your topic. Nonetheless, it is clear that you’ve made progress, and there is still plenty of time to fix any issues with your subtopics. (153)
ReplyDeleteHi Vanessa,
ReplyDeleteI loved reading your blog today! It is great to see you coming along with the research process (and the blogging process).
I agree with the other commenters in suggesting that you try and narrow down your scope to a certain extent, such as only looking at one letter of LGBT with regards to women. I think this allows you to focus on one specific situation and lets you delve deeply into nuance. My one concern would be the amount of material that would be necessary to narrow it down to such a precise group, but I have faith that you can do such dedicated source-finding!
I like the ideas of your subtopics, but as identified by Mrs. Haag, there's no real justification for why we are looking at these things. Of course, I've heard you flush out your ideas before in class and know you have an amazing understanding of why these subtopics are necessary, but explicitly writing out why we need to understand the subtopic of LGBT discrimination will be essential so that you can write your literature review. I'm also not entirely sure how the subtopics connect in any particular logical flow, especially in the context of something like LGBT women. See if you can refine this, or we can work on it tomorrow! You look like you are heading in a great direction, so kudos!
Cheers,
Eric
(233)
*flesh out your ideas.
Delete